


The Viking Queen

by SassyLaurenTheKiller



Series: History [1]
Category: Historical - Fandom, Vikings (TV)
Genre: Adult Bjorn (Vikings), Alternate Universe - Historical, Ancient History, Arranged Marriage, Battle, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Childbirth, Dad Ivar (Vikings), Dom Ivar (Vikings), Drama & Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Issues, Forced Marriage, Heathen army, Jealous Ivar (Vikings), Kings & Queens, Love/Hate, Pagan Festivals, Pagan Gods, Paganism, Possessive Ivar (Vikings), Protective Ragnar Lothbrok, Raiding, Unplanned Pregnancy, Vikings, War, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Night
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26153614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SassyLaurenTheKiller/pseuds/SassyLaurenTheKiller
Summary: Torsten the Earl of Western Norway arranges a marriage between his outspoken daughter Ásbjǫrg and the youngest son of Ragnar, Ivar The Boneless.| Written by someone studying a History Degree in University |
Relationships: Ivar (Vikings)/Original Character(s), Ivar (Vikings)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: History [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1899217
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	1. The Arranged marriage

**Author's Note:**

> This is new idea but I have pretty much the whole story planned out. The first chapter is quite short for me but it's because it's an introduction and I didn't want it to be as long as usual.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The marriage is revealed to prevent a war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the first chapter being so short, I just didn't want to drag it out since the next one will be based in Kattegat.

Ásbjǫrg was the daughter of Earl Torsten, she lived in a city on the Western side of Norway. Ásbjǫrg had been born in winter of 843 and had grown up into a proud, confident beauty that Earl Torsten and his wife Thyra were very proud of, however that was the problem as she was their biggest pride other than their Kingdom; she was also something they would have to sacrifice.

Earl Torsten had gotten himself into a lot of trouble with King Ragnar as he had been part of a planned attack against him and now, they were at risk of war. Earl Torsten had been to Kattegat a few times before with his family, however Ásbjǫrg had noticed that this time he had chosen to go alone, leaving her mother Thyra in charge of the Kingdom in his absence, upon his return he had barely spoken to anyone, that was until a week later.

Earl Torsten sat at the table in the hall, eyes looking over to his only daughter who had been dressed in a light blue embroidered wool hangerock, her black locks tied to the side in a single braid, a few strands loose and resting upon her pale features. Her piercing blue eyes looked up from the chicken on her plate to meet his once she felt her father staring at her.

“What is it father?” Ásbjǫrg spoke up with concern evident in her tone.

Thyra now looked up at her husband, also noticing his stare towards their daughter and almost as though something had just clicked into place, she threw a hand over her mouth to contain any noise that she feared may escape past her lips.

“Please, Torsten. . .” Thyra began, eyes seemingly already beginning to well with tears. “Husband, please.”

The Earl now cast his gaze in the direction of his wife before he let his hand stretch across the table to the drinking horn so that he could get himself a drink of mead and gather up his courage to give his announcement that undoubtedly upset his family.

“Tomorrow we shall all sail to Kattegat.” Torsten begins, however he is interrupted by his daughter.

“There will be no war then?”

“An agreement has been made.” Torsten continues on, taking yet another drink of his mead and ignoring the sob that had left his wife’s lips. “There will be no war, King Ragnar has paid us twelve ounces of silver and in exchange you will marry his son.”

Ásbjǫrg felt as though she had taken an axe to the stomach, she had known of many women who had been arranged to marry someone by their parents but she had never believed her own to do such a thing to her, she swallowed hard before asking the dreaded question.

“Which of his sons am I to marry?”

Torsten knew that Ásbjǫrg was reacting far too calmly to this news; he could sense that this was the calm before she summoned a storm that even Thor himself would be proud of.

“You are to marry his youngest son, Ivar.” Torsten announced, leaning back in his chair to eye his daughter.

Ásbjǫrg couldn’t stop the scoff that left her lips; she turned her head and stared at the flickering ambers of the fire that lit the room before she abruptly stood up from her seat, causing objects that were littering the wooden table to clatter together.

“You cannot expect me to marry **_him_**. You and I know the stories of his cruelty, his ruthlessness in the far lands and not to mention the fact he is apparently impotent and crippled.” Ásbjǫrg raised her voice, remaining exactly where she had stood from her chair. “I will not marry him, you cannot make me.”

Now Torsten rose up from his seat to match his daughter in this fight for dominance, this was not a new behaviour from his daughter, she had never liked being told what to do from anyone. Ásbjǫrg wasn’t spoiled, she did not act this way because she had been spoiled all her life, she was kind to the slaves and she did not act like a brat, however she had a pride that most women of her age did not have, she had a strong spirit.

“You will marry him. You will do exactly as you are told, he is a Prince, and you could never possibly get any better. You will marry him because the arrangements have already been made and should you refuse, you will be killed.”

Ásbjǫrg fell silent upon his words, her hand reaching forward to grab the horn of wine that she had been drinking from so that she could toss the remainder of the contents inside at her father before she marched from the room, ignoring her father who seemed to want to punish her for her reckless behaviour.

“You should be grateful!” Torsten yelled after his daughter who had already now left the room. “This is a gift from the gods, she should be celebrating!”

Thyra held her husband’s arm, preventing him from going after their daughter and only releasing him when she knew he would no longer barge to their daughter’s room. Her eyes followed her husband as he threw himself down into his chair, his fingers rising up to rub at his eyebrows in frustration. Thyra nodded in the direction of one of the thrall’s who immediately knew what she was requesting and went to find Ásbjǫrg.

“You cannot blame her upset.” Thyra now spoke up, eye’s watching over her husband carefully. “She is young and we have always told her that we would let her make her own decisions on who she will marry, now she will be sailing away from her home tomorrow to meet and wed her husband to be.”

Torsten grumbled under his breath, he knew Thyra was just making excuses for their daughter’s behaviour but Torsten still believed that what he had done for Ásbjǫrg was somewhat in her best interest, as there was the possibility of her being the future Queen.

“Every other girl her age has to do the same thing; it has always been this way. What should make her any different? Every other Jarl would find their daughter a husband when they were sixteen. It has been long enough.” Torsten grumbled out into the horn of ale that he had reclaimed from the table. “Odin be with her if she behaves this way with Ivar.”

The Thrall that Thyra had sent had rushed through the building in search for the young girl, she knew exactly where she would be found and that would be her room; however the Thrall grew concerned once she heard a loud crash come from the room that she was heading towards.

The Thrall rushed forward towards the room, opening the door to reveal a wooden chair smashed to pieces at the door of the room and the young girl that had caused it, weeping on the floor and wrapped in the furs from her bed for comfort.

“Ásbjǫrg . . .” The Thrall spoke up, addressing the crying girl that sat in a heap of furs on the floor.

Ásbjǫrg almost immediately began wiping her face clear of tears once she had realised that she was no longer alone, her bright blue eyes seemed to glow due to the redness that surrounded them.

“I’m sorry, come in.” Ásbjǫrg spoke up, though her voice was quite hoarse from the tears that she fought to contain.

The Thrall entered the room, closing the door behind her and immediately making work on cleaning up the mess that had been made from the broken chair that lay by the door, the young girl was quite fierce when she wanted to be with a wicked temper.

“Tell me, what do you know of Ivar Ragnarsson?” Ásbjǫrg suddenly asked, hand still working on wiping her eyes dry.

The Thrall paused at that question, she knew of his reputation because **_everyone_** did. Everyone had heard of him, some of the stories were worrisome to believe and should anything happen to Ragnar, she dread to believe what more he could become. The Thrall didn’t know if she should reassure her or warn her about the Viking prince that she would be marrying, that her husband to be was to be feared.

“There are many things people say of him.” The Thrall began, trying to choose her words as carefully as she possibly could. “Many we do not know if are true or not.”

Ásbjǫrg did not seem to find much comfort in her response; however she did not seem to show much reaction to it either. Her eyes fell down to look at the furs that wrapped around her like a large coat, before she decided to finally move herself up and onto the bed instead of the cold wooden floor.

“They do say he is very handsome.” The Thrall finally adds on, stopping by the door with her arms filled with the broken pieces of wood from the chair. “Many say he is the most handsome of all Vikings.”

Ásbjǫrg finally turned to look at the Thrall once more and offered her a somewhat small smile, she knew that she was trying to help her feel better and although Ásbjǫrg had never cared much for people’s looks it was probably better to be married to a man that was ruthless but good to look at instead of being both ruthless and a hideous sight.

“Thank you, I will try to sleep now if you do not mind.” Ásbjǫrg responded in a soft voice to her Thrall.

The Thrall gave a small bow before she left the room with the broken pieces of wood so that she could toss them away, once out of the room she let out a heavy sigh, she truly felt bad for the young girl but she could not scare her further, she needed rest and an eased mind in preparation for their journey to Kattegat tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and comments for more, I love feedback :)


	2. Kattegat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ásbjǫrg and her family arrive in kattegat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I've been quite sick but during my sickness I've been reading some history books up on the vikings to keep my muse up.

The morning had gone by so quickly that Ásbjǫrg had barely even had time to come to grips with what was happening, before she knew it the ships were leaving the docks and she was watching her homeland fade away slowly in the distance and she almost felt like she was leaving her heart behind with it, it was a dreadful feeling and one that her father would never understand, after all it wasn’t him that would be abandoning all he’d ever known to live in a completely new place, surrounded by people she had never met before, people she didn’t even know if she could trust. There was also the main thing that scared her, she was being forced to marry a man with a ruthless reputation, a man that had managed to get himself such a strong reputation at the age of twenty, she was only a year younger than him and she had barely even ventured far from the place of her birth.

Ásbjǫrg sat by herself on the boat as far away from her mother and father as she could possibly get, watching as Norway faded away into the distance until there was nothing left but clouds and endless waves. There was a thought somewhere in her brain, wondering if her brother knew what was happening to her, if he agreed with their parents decision, it was a tradition after all but it was also one of the sons of Ragnar that she was being arranged to marry.

The waves grew more ruthless as they crossed the sea, clouds blacker than the night shadowed them and the shade of the sea turned from blue to a murky black. Flashes of white could be seen within the black clouds, some of the men aboard were almost tumbling over as they struggled against the gale force winds. Beneath them the sea began to rise as great mountains, anger in the form of water, turbulent and unforgiving almost like the feelings brewing within Ásbjǫrg.

“Perhaps Thor does not agree with this arrangement either, you are doing the work of Loki after all Father.” Ásbjǫrg called over the booming sounds of thunder, seemingly indifferent to the storm that was hitting them with all its might.

“For the love of Odin . . . enough of this daughter!” Torsten boomed back, his voice almost as commanding as the force of the storm. He had clearly had enough of her behaviour.

“I just wonder, if this is what the gods have in store for us today, what is to come of the next three days?” Ásbjǫrg responded, the hood of her cloak being the only protection she had against the battering of the sea and the rain.

However, the next three days seemed to be much easier. The sea’s calmed as they grew closer to the Kattegat seas much to Ásbjǫrg’s dismay and it didn’t take long for their destination to come into view.

**_Kattegat_ ** **_._ **

The sound of horns could be heard from their place in the boats as they grew nearer, these horns were to notify the people of Kattegat of their approach, these same horns were often used to warn of an upcoming attack or as a form of communication during hunts and battle.

As they drew nearer Ásbjǫrg noticed that the docks already seemed to be filled with people and she originally felt a little intimidated, the welcome was nowhere near the same in Norway and once they reached the docks and anchored, her mother and father were first off being swarmed by the people and she slowly followed behind them.

Ásbjǫrg forced a smile onto her face as she greeted the people that rushed to swarm her, complimenting her beauty and almost treating her as though she was one of the gods herself. Her eyes were quickly drawn however to a man that was stood back leaning on one of the wooden beams of the docks, simply observing the arrival of her family. He was very tall and very handsome with hair pulled back into a singular braid. His eyes were a striking shade of blue, a shade that Ásbjǫrg couldn’t really miss since he was staring directly at her and his clothes showed that he was not one of the common folk, however that didn’t intimidate her enough to stop her from staring back at him.

When Torsten noticed who Ásbjǫrg had her eye on, he almost immediately began to walk in the direction of her line of sight, cutting off her staring almost deliberately to prevent her from continuing. Thyra grabbed her daughter’s arm, catching her attention so she could begin leading her after her father and over to the mysterious man.

“It is good to see you again old _friend_.” Ásbjǫrg overheard the man say to her father once they had appeared beside Torsten and completely in view of the famous man who he spoke to.

“Ragnar Lodbrok.” Torsten greeted, the confidence that Ásbjǫrg was used to hearing from her father had seemed to vanish in the presence of Ragnar, who she had not expected to see so soon. “I did not think you would be the one here to greet us.”

Ragnar simply eyed Torsten as he spoke before his eyes averted to focus on Ásbjǫrg who had not once stopped staring at the infamous man who stood before her. Ragnar let his eyes look the smaller female up and down, taking in every single one of her features from her bright blue eyes to her petite figure.

“And who might you be?” Ragnar finally spoke, eyes still completely focused on the staring younger female.

Before the young girl even got a chance to respond to the questioning King, Torsten decided to take matters into his hand. He still had fears that his daughter would say the wrong thing, speak out of line and sabotage everything that he had worked hard to plan.

“That is my daughter, Ásbjǫrg.”

Ásbjǫrg finally broke her staring to look over at her father; a glare that she didn’t even attempt to hide was being directly in his direction, one that Ragnar hadn’t failed to miss. Ásbjǫrg only stopped once her mother cleared her throat to grip her daughter’s attention, causing her to look back towards the current King.

“It is an honour to meet you, King Ragnar.” Ásbjǫrg charmingly announced, finally offering him an almost convincing smile, however it was fake and Ragnar could see that.

Ragnar gave a scoff at first, however he was quick to cover it up and look over at Torsten, throwing his hand over to clap him on the shoulder and start walking towards the great hall.

“Come, my family will be honoured to welcome you all to Kattegat...” Ragnar declares to everyone as they begin to walk together towards the hall, past all the people of Kattegat that had given them such a warm welcome.

The great hall was something out of a dream. Ásbjǫrg hadn’t seen anything like it before in her life. Candle light lit up the entire room, hanging from the giant low hanging beams that made the room feel much bigger than it actually was. Tables were lined up down the sides of the room for when everyone gathered to feast and drink together.

A woman walked down from the two thrones that resided at the end of the hall, this woman was beautiful. Her blonde hair was long and flowing down her shoulders like golden rays of sunshine and her eyes were a similar blue to Ragnar’s. The crown upon her head signalled that she was of high status and Ásbjǫrg guessed that status was Queen.

“Welcome to kattegat.” The woman welcomed, eyes scanning over everyone before finally landing on Ásbjǫrg. A look of distaste suddenly became present in her eyes.

“Queen Aslaug, may I present my family to you. My wife, Thyra.” Torsten began, gesturing to his wife who stood on the other side of him. “And my daughter Ásbjǫrg.”

Whilst Torsten was gesturing to her, Ásbjǫrg had noticed someone sat at the back of the hall, drinking from a horn and eating what appeared to be a piece of chicken. This man was quite well built, his hair braided back neatly and it appeared blonde however Ásbjǫrg couldn’t really see him well enough to tell. Ragnar, however noticed where she was looking as he had been following her gaze and he decided to break the awkward silence.

“That is one of my sons, Hvitserk.” Ragnar began, clearing his throat. “Hvitserk, come and meet your brothers soon to be wife.”

Hvitserk, who had been in the middle of his meal and completely unaware that they even had company, quickly downed the rest of his drink before tossing the horn to the side. He wiped his hands clean on his armour and made his way over to the visitors that stood with his mother and father.

“Where are your brothers?” Ragnar immediately questioned Hvitserk who had only just got over to them and seemed a little take aback by the question. “Well?”

“Ubbe, Björn and Ivar went out to the woods to practice.” Hvitserk responded, eyes flicking over to look at Ásbjǫrg who had noticed that he had similar eyes to his father.

“And you didn’t think to stop them?” Ragnar retaliated, clearly annoyed with his son’s sudden interest to go out practicing at such an important time.

“Ivar wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Aslaug replied to her husband for her son, placing a hand on his shoulder in the process. “You know how he can be.”

Ragnar who everyone could see was visibly becoming more and more angry by the second, turned from his wife back to his son who was the only person he could bombard with questions since all the others were gone.

“And where is Sigurd?”

“He said he didn’t see the point in being here, he wasn’t needed so he has gone out drinking. He said he will be back for the feast tonight.” Hvitserk replied once again, despite his fathers anger he didn’t seem very worried for himself. It must be because he knew he’d done nothing wrong, he was the only one that had stayed behind after all.

“I at least thought that Björn would have been smart enough to stay behind.” Ragnar responded, exhaling air from out of his nose. Ásbjǫrg could see the cogs turning in his head; he was debating on what to do.

“He went to make sure they were actually going to do what they were saying they were going to do. He was making sure that they actually came back for the feast.” Hvitserk explained, defending his brother. “It is the same reason Ubbe went. I stayed back here; I didn’t think they would be gone long.”

Ragnar turned around rather abruptly and begun heading towards the exit for the great hall, he was practically seething with anger. He clearly didn’t think his sons would be so disobedient at a time like this.

“Where are you going?” Aslaug called out as her husband marched towards the exit to the great hall.

“To retrieve my sons.” Ragnar boomed back to her as the doors flew open to the great hall.

After Ragnar had left, Aslaug began to recover the reputation of their family by trying her best to make everyone feel comfortable. She brought everyone through to the back room and had the thrall light a fire and bring some drinks for everyone.

Ásbjǫrg had been sat, lost in her own thoughts whilst her mother and father sat speaking with Queen Aslaug, she did not know what to make of this family just yet. It was all still quiet overwhelming. Her thoughts however were lost when someone came to sit beside her, it took her a moment, but she soon noticed it was Hvitserk.

“So, you are my brothers soon to be wife?” Hvitserk began, clearly just attempting to make conversation.

“Perhaps.” Ásbjǫrg responded, eying Hvitserk sceptically as he sat next to her with a horn of ale in his hand.

“Perhaps?” Hvitserk shot back at her with a scoff of amusement following his words.

“Well, I have a say in the marriage. Do I not?”

Hvitserk eyed the girl, his eyes screaming amusement as he watched her, clearly somewhat shocked that she did not seem certain on if she would marry his brother. Most women would jump to marry one of the sons of Ragnar, for the reputation alone.

“So, you don’t actually know if you will marry Ivar?” Hvitserk decided to ask with a curious gaze.

“I don’t know him. I don’t know what he is like, but I have heard things.”

Hvitserk knew what she meant; he knew what she had heard. The kind of things that people said about his brother, only he, his brothers and their parents knew the true side of Ivar, what he was really like and not just what people saw on the battlefield.

“Don’t be so quick to judge him.” Hvitserk suddenly said, lifting his drink up to his lips. “The people that say these things, they don’t know him.”

“Are they true?” Ásbjǫrg asks him, turning herself to look him straight in the eye, to see if she can see any hesitation, any indication of a lie.

“Not all of them.” Hvitserk responds almost instantly, not even hesitating for a second. “But it is up to you to choose if you want to stay and see which ones are true and which ones are not.”

Ásbjǫrg stared at Hvitserk for a moment, weighing the options in her head as she took in what he had said. It was true; people did spread lies and rumours about people without knowing them, it couldn’t be too hard to give Ivar a chance and to sit down and talk to the man instead of instantly deciding against him.

Almost as if on queue the door opened, Ragnar was the first to enter but behind him was three other men, each of them entering one by one.

A tall handsome dark haired man that had his hair tied back into a single braid, he looked remarkably like Ragnar and stood next to another tall handsome man who was slightly older and blonde. Then, there was the man who Ásbjǫrg had instantly made eye contact with, he had striking blue eyes that were much brighter than any of his brother’s eyes, he was holding himself up tall by a crutch since his legs were not as strong as his brothers were. He was far more handsome than any of the others and Ásbjǫrg found herself at a loss for words.

“That is Ivar.” Hvitserk told Ásbjǫrg once he had noticed her looking over at his brother with the crutch.

The one with a crutch gave Ásbjǫrg a cocky smirk as he limped his way into the room with his brothers. He turned his gaze away once he noticed his mother approaching him, he offered her a smile like butter wouldn’t melt once she was stood in front of them.

“I told you Ivar, you shouldn’t have gone out to the woods. I told you that your father would not be happy.” Aslaug spoke much more caringly as she addressed her son.

“And I told you mother, I must prepare for when we return to England.” Ivar responded almost instantly, though his voice was much more relaxed than Ásbjǫrg had expected it to be.

Aslaug ignored Ivar’s words and grabbed onto his arm, leading him and his other brothers over to stand before Ásbjǫrg, Thyra and Torsten so that she could introduce them all.

“These are our other sons.” Aslaug began. “Our eldest, Björn.”

She gestured towards the blonde haired elder who clearly didn’t really want to be there and had more important things on his mind, however still seemed to maintain a somewhat interested expression.

“Our second oldest, Ubbe.” Aslaug continued on whilst introducing the dark haired male that looked quite a lot like Ragnar. “And of course, our youngest, Ivar.”

Ivar was another that clearly was forcing himself to feign interest in this introductory activity that was occurring for his mother, he didn’t seem like the type to want to take part in these type of activities in the slightest.

“And Ivar, may I introduce you to Jarl Torsten’s daughter, Ásbjǫrg. Your future wife.” Aslaug continued on, gesturing to the young beauty who sat beside his brother, Hvitserk.

Ivar and Ásbjǫrg once again made eye contact and Ásbjǫrg knew this was in the god’s hands. It was fated to end incredibly well or go up in flames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos and comments for more :) I love feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> Leave kudos and comments for more, I know people love my Ivar in my crossover victorian story so I'm looking forward to feedback on this :)


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